bright world

safe, happy journeys

safe, happy half terms

guardianships

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company introduction

Bright World Guardianships Ltd and our sister company, Bright World Education Ltd, were founded in 2000. Our role is to help overseas students to find the right place at a British school, or college and then to care for them while they are here as their UK-based guardian. We work with over 400 schools and colleges across the UK who all recognise our guardianship programme.

Education specialists If you are sending your son or daughter to a UK boarding school, then you will be asked by the school and the authorities to provide the name of a UK-based guardian who is responsible for your child as you are not living in the UK. Parents who do not have a friend or family member who live in the UK often turn to the services of a guardianship organisation such as Bright World Guardianships. As guardians, our vision has always been to create an elite guardianship service that far exceeds the expectations of parents and their children. In doing so we have established an excellent reputation among the many UK boarding schools with whom we work. We can offer guardianship to students across the UK.

AEGIS accreditationUnlike many other guardianship organisations we are fully accredited by AEGIS (The Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students). This means our practices and processes have been thoroughly inspected and audited by this important organisation and we can therefore guarantee that we will act in your child’s best interest at all times.

we offer guardianship across the uk

Avon (Bristol)BedfordshireBerkshireBirminghamBuckinghamshireCambridgeCumbriaDevonDorset EssexGloucestershireHampshireHerefordshireHertfordshireKentLondon

Lancashire LeicestershireLincolnshireNorfolkNorthamptonshireOxfordshireSurreySomersetShropshireScotlandSussex SuffolkWalesWarwickshireWiltshireWorcestershireYork

Your dedicated Care Manager

our guardianship service

Bright World office assistance

host family accommodation

local Bright World ‘Buddy’ visits transport and travel

A safe home from home during holiday times. Use our online Host Family Selection Tool to browse our database

and make your own selection.

Everything about your guardianship programme on

the cloud

There are many layers to our guardianship service and it is sometimes difficult to explain to our students and clients. The diagram below is designed to set out the main six most important services that we offer. Safeguarding and screening of staff, host families and drivers is at the heart of everything we do to keep the children under our care happy, safe and sound.

emergency assistance

blinkour interactive parent portal

Your child’s Buddy for year-round support

24/7 support Trustworthy, friendly and reliable drivers

safe, happy journeys safe, happy half terms

guardianship care managers

The Head Office team is based in Sussex and is responsible for the organisation of the guardianship programme and offers parents and agents a ‘one-stop-shop’ for all matters relating to the programme. You will be allocated with a dedicated Guardianship Care Manager as soon as you enrol, who will look after you throughout the year. The support you will receive includes:

Before arrival

• Processing your initial application, and informing the school that we will be guardian to satisfy visa criteria if required.

• Provision of visa support documentation if required. • Liaising with you on term dates and your host family requirements.• If a family is required you will be allocated one which closely matches

your requirements. You can also use our Host Family Selection Tool to access a database of our host families yourself so that you can filter on your requirements and help us to select a family.

• Noting your flight arrival details and your instructions for airport transfers.

As soon as the academic year is under way, your Guardianship Care Manager will be busy planning for all the events that will take place during the year and will contact you about:

• Host family arrangements for exeats and half terms• Day-to-day problems that may arise when you need a representative to

act on your behalf with the school • Travel arrangements during holiday times

Throughout the year

Bright World is committed to finding good, safe and caring host families for our students. We have an excellent choice of host families in all the areas in which we offer guardianship. We seek regular feedback from students on their host family experience; any concerns or comments are quickly followed up by the team, liaising with parents and schools as and when necessary. If a stu-dent wants to move family then we will always arrange this without delay.

accommodation & travel managers

Polite drivers, clean cars, safe and efficient journeys, and timings are paramount to the service we provide to our students. We work hard to recruit excellent drivers, who all pass our screening process and sign our Code of Conduct charter, to ensure that students are transported safely and securely to and from airports.

Travel Manager

Accommodation Managers

Our Safeguarding and Operations Manager ensures the smooth-running of the programme and makes sure our Safeguarding Policy is regularly reviewed and upheld. She manages our safeguarding processes and offers support to the Guardianship Care Department.

Safeguarding and operations

Working closely with the Guardianship Care Managers is a team of highly-trained professionals who make sure that anyone who works for, or with Bright World in the UK has been properly screened and checked by following strict safer recruitment guidelines. The Accommodation and Travel Department adopts a zero-tolerance approach to any situation that contradicts our Safeguarding Policy.

Bright World recognises the importance of good and accurate communication between ourselves, parents, students and schools. For those parents who do not speak or read English, Bright World offers a language counselling service in addition to our standard programme. This gives parents from Mandarin and Russian-speaking countries access to a native-speaker during office hours by telephone or email for a small supplementary payment.

language counsellors

GRACE WANG HAI LI INNA SHEPPARD

• During their first stay with a host family, the Buddy will call the student. After they return to school, our Buddy will visit and run through a Host Family Care Plan to make sure they have been happy. The results of this meeting will be uploaded for you on BLINK in the form of a Host Family Care Plan Report, and you will receive an email notifying you that your report is ready to view.

• The Buddy will attend Parents’ Evenings if parents require them to and will report back to parents with a full report via Blink.

• The Bright World Buddy spends the year getting to know the student and

generally offering any support they need. They are also there locally in case of emergency.

Our team of Bright World ‘Buddies’ live near the schools. They act as a child’s mentor and independent friend in the UK and the parents’ representative. We have chosen our Local Coordinators because they are kind and caring, well qualified, and live near the schools so can get there quickly if necessary.

Bright World Buddy team

On arrival

Throughout the year

• Your Bright World Buddy will call the student on arrival and let them know when they will visit. If parents arrive with their son or daughter, they will be happy to meet up and, if required, will take them to see the host family we have allocated.

• On or shortly after arrival day, the Buddy will make their first visit to see the student. A report will then be uploaded to you on BLINK, our parent portal, along with photographs and notes. During this visit, the Buddy will introduce the Student Handbook and read out our Student Charter and Code of Behaviour so the student understands our rules. The student is asked to sign this and keep a copy.

• All Bright World family homes have been inspected and screened by Bright World.

• We aim to allocate just one host family throughout the guardianship programme. However, if a student doesn’t like the family, they can change.

• If a host family cannot host for a particular event then we will find you another one of equal quality instead.

• Our host family will collect and return your child to school at the start and end of each holiday.

• Under 14’s are supervised 24/7.

• The family offers 3 meals a day, plus snacks and a caring, safe and warm home.

your host family

Bright World Head Office invests in a dedicated Accommodation and Safeguarding Department to ensure that we recruit and screen host families thoroughly. This is to ensure that your child will be warmly welcomed and treated like a member of the family. Our families offer our students a real ‘home from home’ in the UK.

Why do I need a host family?

Important facts

• Some schools close for two or three nights each term (exeat weekends) and all students must leave. All schools close for one or two weeks in the middle of each term (half term). On these occasions, if your child is not able to return home they will need to stay with their host family.

• Students who misbehave can be asked to leave school for a few nights.

• If you are unable to book flights on the right arrival or departure day, the school may be closed when your child arrives or leaves and you will need a host family.

The Bright World Host Family Selection ToolBright World recognises that most people like to be involved in selecting their host family. In response to this, we offer our parents and students access to an online database of our host familes. You can filter on the distance from your school and browse all the families in the area. A simple selection tool sends us an availablity

Relax & Revise programme

Relax and Revise is offered to students aged 12-18 years and is held at Cambridge Melchior College. The college is an independent international provider of British Education and is based just outside the famous university city of Cambridge. You can select Relax and Revise as an option for half terms and or Easter when you make your initial application to Bright World Guardianships. Alternatively you can let your Guardianship Care Manager know if you decide to enrol later. The programme is also available to any international student wanting somewhere to spend their half term. and Easter holidays in the UK.

Not all students want to go down the traditional route of staying with a host family. Many want to spend holidays with their friends, and host families cannot always accommodate large numbers. With this in mind, Bright World Guardianships has created a unique residential programme specifically tailored to the international boarding school student, in association with Cambridge Melchior College.

An alternative to host family in Cambridge

All welcome Students who are not enrolled on the Bright World Guardianship programme can apply using our online form.

For students wanting extra tuition in specific subjects, this option is available on request at time of booking.

1:1 tuition option

• We will send a profile of the driver collecting the student, including their photograph, name and telephone number, when we confirm the arrangement.

• All our drivers are criminal record-checked, and are reliable and caring people

who are fully insured with good quality vehicles.

• Our escort to terminal service is offered to all students under 15 automatically, and as an option to older students on request.

Your Bright World driver

Special airside meet and greet Bright World can arrange extra meet and greet and airport check-in services for our students. Available at an extra cost, this offers extra peace of mind to anxious parents and also helps young students to navigate the sometimes very confusing airports.

The Bright World Airport Angel Service provides:

• A friendly face waiting for you on arrival when the plane door opens and someone to take you through customs.

• Someone to take you right to the boarding gate on departure. • Airside meet and greet and escort through customs.• Airside departure - assistance through passport control and escort to boarding gate.

The driver who collects your child from the airport on arrival is probably the first person they will meet from Bright World. It is very important, therefore, that they recognise them and can find them easily. It is also important that the driver arrives on time and is kind and caring.

safe and reliable transport

blinkBefore you enrol and before arrival• Our unique Host Family Selection Tool allows you to browse our

database of host families and choose your favourite families yourself

• View our documents and policies online

• Download personalised guardianship quotations for over 400 UK boarding schools

Throughout the year• Read and refer to important documents throughout the year

• See your statement of account and pay your invoice online

• Upload the student’s travel arrangements and instructions to us for airport meet and greet

• Receive email alerts informing you we have spoken to or are visiting your child

• Read visit reports with a photo gallery so you can see the student with us at school

• You can continue to use the Host Family Selection Tool throughout the year should your host family requirements change.

When you enrol on the Bright World Guardianship programme, you will automatically receive your login details to Blink. This is our cloud-based parent portal. It holds general information for you to read about living and studying in the UK, and specific information about your child’s progress throughout the year. It also uniquely gives you access to our database of host families so you can browse through and make your own choice.

Blink, your online portal

£620 per term= £1,860 per year

inc VATfull programme fee payable in advance

(no termly payments)

We do not offer homestay at Christmas and expect students to

go home. At Easter we recommend our Relax & Revise programme. Host family at Easter on request only and

subject to availability.

£1,500 per year /£500 per termAny of the deposit not used for extra services is fully refundable at the end of the programme

If the services used cost more than the deposit there will be an additional charge

costs of extra services

Host Family accommodation = £45 per night full board plus 45p/mile for pick up and drop off

Extra visits from your Local Coordinator (2 per year included).= £30 per hour plus travel at 45p/mile

Additional parents’ evening = £60 plus travel at 45p/mile

summary of fees due for 1 academic year (three terms) to include homestay and travel and VAT service fees £1,860 expenses deposit £1,500 total: £3,360+ =

fees

service fee

Online and credit card payment

Easy top-up of expenses depositaccount online

Early booking recommended for host family availability

Visa Support letter available on payment

information

Easy online application form

aHead Office services

aHost Family allocation service

aTravel services

a2 visits per year from Bright World Buddy

a 24/7 emergency assistance

expenses deposit (optional) for extra services to cover host family stay, extra visits and travel services if required

Travel at cost plus £5 administration fee per taxi journey

Landside Airport meet or escort to boarding = £85

Relax & Revise programme £85 per night

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7A host family for a 9-16 night break Friday-Sunday

A guardian fills in the gaps in the school year - here is a rough guide of what to expect from us each term.

termly guardianships road map

Safe, efficient travel with a Bright World

driver

Travel back to the airport for

the longholidays at

home

1. Arrival

Term Start

Term end

3. Exeat

2. School visitA settling-in visit within the first

day or two of arrival plus a report

5. School visitA host family for a 2 night break Friday-Sunday

4. Half Term 6. Exeat 2

A parents’ evening or host

family check

A host family for a 2 night break Friday-Sunday

7. Long holiday

24/7 emergency assistance

Bright World provided a home away from home during my stay in the UK"

Raphaëlle de Rechniewski, St Ed-mund's College,

now studying at Cambridge Universi-ty

student feedback

The care they give is very significant. I felt safer with Bright

World as my guardian.Regina Minnakhmetova, Millfield School

I had Alex as my guardian, and she always took care

of me and checked up on me, she was really nice and the

entire programme is wonderful.

Honghao Wang, Sidcot School

“

“

student feedback

They provided me

somewhere to stay in the half term and

they have been a great listener when there are times that I would like to express my opinion

on something.Haley Lo, Priory Academy,

now studying at UCL

The drivers are all extremely friendly and

trustworthy people. They really care about the quality of the time

I was staying in the UK.

Hiu Ching Lam, now studying at University of Birmingham

“ “

“

AEGIS Inspector’s feedback

Bright World is a highly efficient Guardianship Organisation

that provides a quality service for the students that they care for. Children’s

safety and welfare is at the heart of the service that they provide. Jacqueline Scotney, Lead Inspector, AEGIS

Safeguarding is taken very seriously by Bright World,

with a designated director for safeguarding who has extensive

experience in this field. Safer recruitment practice is fully

embedded. March 2017 AEGIS Re-inspection report

“ “

school feedback

I was so impressed by your level of commitment and the degree of

thoroughness and care you provide the students under your guardianship.

Maura Power, International Student Recruitment Manager, Culford School

We look forward to welcoming students to join our school via your wonderful

services.Christina Marshall, International Recruitment Manager,

Durham School

“ “

parent feedback

We would like to extend our sincere thanks for the guidance and care Bright

World extended to Regine. Your kindness and service

made her settling-in process go very smoothly.

Estella Yip

You’ve been a great helpfor Koichi’s stay in the UK.

All of your host familieswere wonderful. Koichi is going to miss them a lot.

Mrs Ichi

“ “

Register Use our simple online form to register your place on the Bright World Guardianship programme. Early registration is recommended to ensure prompt and efficient organisation of your host family, travel arrangements and school year ahead.

ConfirmWhen we recieve your registration form we will process your application the same day. You will receive your invoice and a confirmation email.

Begin As soon as you complete your contract with us by paying our fees, your journey with Bright World Guardianships begins. You can sit back and let us do the rest.

bright worldBright World Guardianships Ltd, Forge House, 105 High Street,

Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, UKTel: +44 1273 835745 Email: info@brightworld.co.uk

www.brightworldguardianships.com